Method 2 – Verse 6 from Surah Nisaa
“And test the orphans until they reach marriage; then if you find in them maturity of intellect, make over to them their property,”
The important thing to note here, is that this “make over to them their property” is the same phrase as is used in the narrations in blog 1 (“her property is given to her”) as the measure of bulugh, which has two conditions:
This means that there are two conditions for giving property to the young orphans:
1. Reaching the age where you are ready to be married(بلغوا النكاح)
2. Maturity of intellect (رشد)
As we know that the age of bulugh is not marriage itself, it must be reaching the age of bulugh is being ready for marriage.
Method 3: Verse 59 of Surah Nur
“And when the children among you have had a wet dream/attained puberty [حلم], let them seek permission as those before them sought permission”
Similar to the narration before, this means that you do not reach bulugh until you have a wet dream.
Method 4: Verse 34 from Surah Israa
“And draw not near to the property of the orphan except in a goodly way till he attains his maturity” (بلغ أشدّه)
A narration from Hashim bin Salim from Abu Abd Allah (AS), who said: “being an orphan is stopped when you reach puberty [same word used as in surah nur above], and this is reaching maturity [أشده – as used in surah israa]. And if he reaches puberty and is not mature or is stupid, or weak, then let his guardian hold on to his property.”
The point of this, is this is another indication that age is not a decisive factor.
Method 5: Narration of “not being answerable to God” رفع القلم
The Prophet (SAW) said: “There is no answering to God for three types of people: from a young person until he has a wet dream, and from a mad person until he becomes sane, and a from someone sleeping until he is conscious”
This is a narration, that there is consensus about – that it came from the Prophet (SAW).
Method 6: No evidence
There is no actual clear evidence for reaching bulugh before 13, and this is enough by itself.
Method 7: Istishab of not being baligh
Istis-hab is a jurisprudential tool that is used based on rationality. It says that we value certainty over doubt and if we have certainty and then doubt about something changing, we must refer to the certainty.
We have certainty that when born, a girl is not baligh. There are traditions which mention 9 (but NONE that mention 9 independently of any other factor). We can thus not be sure that you definitely become baligh at 9. We can thus refer to the certain state of not being baligh.
There are traditions for 9, 10 and 13 so when you reach 13, you can know for sure that if there is a maximum age limit (which makes sense to make sure that those who are late developers do not get a completely different age of bulugh), you can be sure that when you reach 13, you have reached the age of bulugh.
Overall, the deduction of most scholars in deciding that the age of bulugh is 9 for women has a lot of problems with it. This is because there are other factors which make the age of 9 not required. And Ijma’ does not work.
The Qur`an does not specify an age and we have potentially conflicting narrations. If the evidence above does not satisfy one to ignore the age of 9, then both sets of narrations are disregarded, and there is no reason to have the age of 9.
So, just to confirm. Wet dreams are for boys becoming baligh. And 13 is the max limit for girls becoming baligh. Is there a max age for boys also?
ReplyDeleteAlso, the hadiths above all seem to refer to orphans...? Plz explain.
Prophet's hadith under method 5. I presume when he says sleep, it's a coma, because otherwise I might as well sleep during Fajr time.
confirm - wet dreams for guys yep but the verb in arabic is احتلم which has a meaning for girls as well...reaching puberty would be a translation...point being that there is no age associated with it
ReplyDeletere: 13 being max limit for girls - I think the argument is not strong for putting 13 (seems to be just based on blog 4 - method 1 - hadith)...but it's mainly the idea that in terms of ages prescribed, there are only three 9, 10 and 13 so you can be sure that if there is a max age, then u can use method 6 to say it's 13
max age for boys - there is no discussion here on this topic (but it's agreed/thought to be 15 - I have not done any research on this)
The hadith/quranic verses about orphans - this is due to the references in the first blog on this topic on the fact that when the orphan is paid their money, that is when they are baligh. The verse of quran here says that the orphan is paid money when they are ready to get married i.e. no age given.
Sleep - yep it's a metaphorical meaning, implying that whilst you are asleep you are not conscious so in that time, you cannot be punished if you do something IN that time whilst not being conscious. That is different to not putting alarm on...etc. as that is a sin that you do before you go to sleep....the point i think is sleepwalking/coma...etc.